Youth's Rhapsody
by BirdPeopleInc
Summary: SasuNaruSasu, high school AU: It was senior year when Sasuke and Naruto finally encountered each other. Their meeting was inevitable in the relatively small Senju High School - all that followed, however, was not. (Alternating POV, mature content warning, sensitive material, character death.)
1. Chapter 1: Sasuke

It wasn't that he hated school, he just hated everyone he had to interact with.

Academically, Senju High School was pretty prestigious, but that didn't seem to diminish the amount of morons Sasuke came in contact with on a daily basis.

As soon as he stepped through the doors, his quiet world of logic and reason was suddenly challenged by the idiots he had grown up with. He would see the huddles of girls either gossiping about nonsense, giggling obnoxiously or just outright staring at him as he walked past. Nobody in the school seemed to grasp the concept of priorities. The guys would run through the halls yelling, shoving people, or knocking books out of hands; it was all so inconsequential.

Aside from the abundance of irritants, Sasuke liked learning. Well, at least in its basic form. But at Senju, classes dragged on and teachers treated him like a child. He was hoping that since his classes primarily consisted of seniors, the teachers wouldn't talk down to him or hover so much. There was so much fluff in the curriculum that Sasuke would probably be better off just teaching himself what he needed to know. Straight A's were easy to maintain and monotonous to execute, but still, it was learning.

So, as the first day of senior year began, Sasuke took a breath and walked into Room 307.

It's not as if he had expected anything other than what sat before him. The same students, the same inane chatter, the same seat in the back corner he liked so much. At this point, most of his classmates knew not to approach him. Many of them were familiar with Sasuke's trademark death glares and unimpressed demeanor. He preferred to seclude himself, only speaking when necessary and keeping everyone on a need-to-know basis. Small talk and senseless chatter had never made much sense to Sasuke and only succeeded in irritating him. He assumed most other students saw him as arrogant and standoffish which ultimately worked to keep everyone at bay.

Shortly after taking a seat and placing his bag aside his chair, Sasuke's attention was called to the front of the room when an obnoxious blonde haired boy walked through the door. He was speaking loudly to two other boys in their grade about some video game they had recently bought. The fact that he was speaking at a high enough volume for Sasuke to hear every word was enough to piss him off.

_Naruto, I think._

Sasuke didn't know much about him. He didn't really make an attempt to know much about anyone at school. He only knew Naruto's name because, at one time, they were both outsiders. Naruto had grown up an orphan just as Sasuke had. He was socially awkward and openly disliked throughout their elementary school years, leaving him isolated. Sasuke had always chosen to remove himself as much as he could from social situations out of preference, but Naruto was forced out. But looking at him now, Sasuke could see he really had made a significant change. They had made it to senior year, and Naruto now entered classrooms flanked by two boys engaged in conversations about popular social topics, just like any other 17 year old.

The wild-haired boy on Naruto's right responded to him as they took seats near the front of the class, lowering the volume of the conversation enough to effectively put Sasuke's out of earshot. As he turned his attention to getting out his notebook and pencil, the bell rang, followed by the teacher walking in the room and closing the door.

Sasuke had never had Professor Umino before, but he had heard relatively neutral things said about him. He looked like a standard teacher. Nothing specifically unique about him, excluding the scar across his nose. History was never Sasuke's interest, he preferred math and sciences, but Iruka Umino seemed like a competent enough teacher, hopefully indicating that the class wouldn't be too irritating. As long as he didn't have to interact with other students or work in groups everything would be fine.

It was at that moment that a girl quickly opened the door and walked into class, obviously late and obviously flustered. Another girl followed her in, flicking her long blonde ponytail off of her shoulder and looking equally flushed. Once they saw everyone staring at them, they exchanged a hostile glance, clearly blaming the other for their tardiness.

"Please take a seat, girls," Umino said before picking up the roster.

The girls scanned the room and simultaneously came to the same conclusion: there was one seat next to Sasuke, and there was one that wasn't.

Sasuke had never spoken to either of these girls. He vaguely recognized one of them, the first one to walk in, as a classmate from biology last year. She repeatedly attempted to become his lab partner, even though it was clear that Sasuke wasn't interested, not to mention the fact that the rules stated that lab partners were assigned by the teacher. He couldn't understand why she was so persistent, or why she had such a hard time grasping the concept of professor-designated partners.

Both girls seemed to have a split second of panic before deciding to subtly race to the seat next to Sasuke. The first girl beat her friend to his side, sitting down, throwing her friend a victory glare, and tossing her short pink hair in triumph. The other girl attempted to cover up her defeat and rerouted to a seat across the room next to an unhappy looking boy in sunglasses.

Professor Umino began calling off names for attendance, checking them off one by one. Sasuke didn't know most of the names but recognized a few.

"Shino Aburame."

"Present," said the boy in sunglasses.

"Sakura Haruno."

"Here," the girl next to Sasuke called.

_Sakura. I'll make sure to avoid her._

_"_Kiba Inuzuka."

"Here," barked the wild-haired boy that had sat next to Naruto.

As names were called, Sasuke was reminded of how much he disliked his classmates. He could tell by looking around the room at the vacant expressions that none of his peers were worth his time. Quietly shaking his leg in impatience, Sasuke folded his hands in front of his face and glared over his fingers.

"Sasuke Uchiha,"Umino called.

"Here."

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"Here."

"Ino Yamanaka."

"Here!" called Sakura's friend.

"Alright. Will you all please get out your summer essays? They should all be in MLA format or I will not take them. 2 months is not long enough to forget proper essay format," Umino said, walking to the front row of desks and holding out his hands for the papers.

The class noisily dug into their bags to find their papers. Sasuke already had his out, as it was expected that Umino would collect them shortly after attendance. Sasuke couldn't help but notice Naruto looking at the boy named Kiba with a panicked expression. His friend shrugged and Naruto responded by mouthing the word 'fuck'.

_Moron._

"Hey, how long is yours?" Sakura asked, turning to face Sasuke with an annoyingly wide smile on her face.

Sasuke silently slid his essay a few inches closer to Sakura, allowing her to look. As she leafed through the papers her eyes widened.

"Yours is only 3 pages? Mine is like 7."

"Why write a lot when you can effectively make your point in a few pages?" Sasuke responded without looking at her, entirely intending the question to be rhetorical.

"Well, I guess I-"

"Sakura, your paper please," Umino said, reaching their desks and holding out his hand.

Sasuke handed his paper to the professor as well, grateful for the end of the conversation.

After collecting the papers, Umino returned to the desk and began his first day of school speech. It was completely recycled. He said nothing they hadn't all heard before. Turn in all of your homework, don't be late to class, you have three days to make up a test after being absent etc. etc. Luckily, Sakura did not attempt to start any more conversations, which Sasuke preferred. He noticed that Naruto had spent most of the class nodding off and then shaking his head in a blatant attempt not to fall asleep.

As the bell rang, Sasuke packed his notebook and pencil back in his bag and made his way toward the door.

"Sasuke!" he heard Sakura call from behind him.

Ignoring her, he continued walking until he reached the hallway and blended into the crowd. Senior year had started, and the inevitable headache that was public school was as troublesome as ever.


	2. Chapter 2: Naruto

**AN: Just for clarification, every other chapter will be Naruto-centric and in his POV (kind of). Wren writes the odd numbered (Sasuke) chapters, and I (Gale) write the others. Enjoy!**

* * *

It wasn't that he loved school, he just loved everyone he got to interact with.

Each year became better and better for Naruto, and he didn't even know when he began to look forward to going to school. Of course, it wasn't always that way. In Elementary School, Naruto was completely singled out and isolated, given no attention or company. What's worse, he couldn't even control the reason behind why that was.

If Elementary Schoolers were mean, then Middle Schoolers were cruel. Whereas it would just be a tease or push here and there in his younger years, Naruto's older years brought full on assault and vicious verbal attacks. Still, every morning during that time, he would wake up with a smile, hoping that today would be the day that he was acknowledged; today would be the day that he finally made a friend. This nearly hopeless optimism persisted day after day, driving the lonely boy up and out of bed, ready to march into school and try his very best.

One day in eighth grade, something finally went right. It was in the middle of Social Studies when it happened: Naruto, laughing loudly and drawing attention toward himself as always, finally made a friend.

"Wait, what did you just say?" a boy with wild brown hair asked, turning to face Naruto.

"What, the joke?" he replied, surprised that someone had finally spoken to him.

"Yeah, yeah! It sounded funny, what was it?"

"...Why did the chicken cross the road?"

Met with expectant silence, Naruto began to grin despite himself, already thinking about the punchline.

"Why?"

"To get to your house," Naruto stated. He paused for no more than a moment, then continued with, "Knock knock."

"Who's there?" the other boy supplied with an irrepressible grin himself.

"The chicken."

Immediately, the classmate Naruto was speaking to and a few others around him erupted into boyish laughter. Others were soon coming over, asking to hear what was so hilarious and gathering around the commotion. While some kids found it genuinely funny, most just wanted to fit in with those who were actually amused by it, forcing laughter as well. It was such a simple thing to do, such a mindless action, and yet it changed Naruto's life forever.

From that day on, Kiba Inuzuka became his best friend. They finished Middle School together, and entered High School side by side. While both of them outgrew their round, childish looks, Kiba's wild brown hair was never tamed, only slightly longer. Naruto simply looked like an older version of his child self.

It was thanks to Kiba that Naruto now loved school, and was loved in return. As soon as the unruly boy became his friend, others began to follow. First, Chouji Akimichi came along, actually daring to approach Naruto as Kiba had. Immediately, Chouji forgot why he had avoided Naruto in the first place. Mere days later came Shikamaru Nara, who was Chouji's best friend and naturally tagged along with him. The four boys formed their happy little group, skipping class together and telling bad jokes. Eventually, the group became well liked and by extension, so did Naruto. From the start of High School up until this final year, Naruto Uzumaki went from the outskirts of his peers to the dead center.

Walking easily with Kiba and Chouji, Naruto lead the other two into Professor Iruka Umino's room, all of them sharing the first period class. They sat near the back of the classroom, but not out of disinterest or dislike; no, this was Naruto's favorite class in fact, as well as his favorite teacher. Due to pre-existing circumstances, he was very close with the faculty of Senju High School, all of them sort of like a surrogate family for him.

As Naruto headed to the back at the ring of the bell, he glanced at a rather dark boy who seemed to be perpetually scowling.

_Isn't his name Saucy or something weird like that?_

Resisting the urge to laugh at such an awful name, Naruto caught up to Kiba and Chouji. When attendance came along, he learned that 'Saucy' was actually Sasuke Uchiha, which was a lot more boring and less flavorful.

Naruto blanched when he saw Sakura heading directly toward the gloomy boy as she rushed into class, eyes completely glued to him. With a frown, he glanced over to Kiba and Chouji, who were also glaring at Sasuke. Both boys were very aware of their friend's massive crush on Sakura, and therefore hated anyone she liked who wasn't Naruto. On top of that, Sasuke didn't even reciprocate any of Sakura's attention, which just pissed Naruto off.

And with that, the rest of first period World History with Professor Umino, Room 307, continued on smoothly.

* * *

To Naruto, the only good thing about math class was the teacher. The blond just couldn't grasp numbers at all, landing him in Algebra 2 for a second year in a row. It wasn't that he didn't try - in fact, he gave his all in everything he did - it was just that he couldn't comprehend it. Professor Mitarashi understood this and tried to guide Naruto the best she could, but both of them had just a little too many shortcomings to actually progress anywhere.

"Hey, Anko," Naruto greeted the teacher casually as he entered the room, taking a seat near the back corner. None of his friends would be in this class, as they had all already passed it.

_At least I have Anatomy after this_, Naruto thought, boredly tapping a pencil on his desk. _Jiraiya should make the first day interesting._

And, sure enough, Professor Sannin greeted the third period class with a full screen picture of a beautiful, naked woman. Naruto thought he saw a girl with long, purple-tinted hair and pale eyes nearly pass out at the sight, but he wasn't entirely sure.

"All in the name of anatomical studies," Jiraiya told Naruto afterward, although the latter had heard this excuse many times before. His next class, Health, was only a few doors down, so Naruto decided to stay and catch up with Jiraiya a bit.

"Hey, perv!" he said, smiling widely and resting his hands in his pockets. "How's the old hag and freak?"

With an irritated look that was more out of habit than actual annoyance, Jiraiya leaned on his desk. "How are they, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Well, anyway, Tsunade's been pretty busy recently. She was invited to give the graduation speech at her old college and apparently terrified most of them," Professor Sannin chuckled, shaking his head. "She's continuing her medical studies, did you know that?"

Naruto perked up immediately. "No way! 'Thought the old lady was done with that, it always seemed like Orochimaru was the only one of you who actually continued on with med science."

Jiraiya grimaced slightly at this, remembering his own early days as a physician. When his sister landed the position of principal at the acclaimed Senju High School and offered him a job, he ditched his previous life immediately to join her and his brother. Naruto personally thought that three Sannin in one building was plenty.

The conversation stayed light and jovial as usual between them until just before Naruto had to leave.

Jiraiya, putting a hand on Naruto's shoulder, said, "Listen, Naruto. Be careful this year, alright?"

"What? Why?" the student questioned, weirded out by Jiraiya's sudden shift. After an unsettling look from the man, he got his answer.

"There are some bad kids in this school."

Naruto didn't really think that was any concern to him, but nodded to humor Jiraiya nonetheless. School was always turbulent, that was just the way things worked; besides, it's not like he didn't get into the occasional fight now and again, anyway. The blond was pretty damn strong, being a sturdy boy to begin with. The idea of a 'bad kid' didn't phase him at all.

"Right. Well, see you later," he finally responded, turning and heading out of the room. He felt Jiraiya watch him all the way out, Naruto frowning slightly to himself.

_What was that for? Is Jiraiya finally maturing or something?_

Quickly laughing off the thought, Naruto entered Room 222 and took a cursory glance around. He saw Gaara, another friend of his, sitting in the back and went over to him with a smile. Gaara was quite an odd one, his other two siblings being quite quirky themselves. In fact, it seemed the entire Sabaku family was just one giant collection of strangeness. Temari, the eldest, was the most normal of them all, her only unusual interest being windsurfing. Kankuro, though... he really, _really_ enjoyed puppets. He also seemed to be overly fond of heavy makeup, seeing as he wore thick purple eyeliner and lip liner almost daily. At first, that sort of alarmed everyone, but they all grew used to it and no longer saw it as strange at all.

As Naruto sat down next to Gaara, he looked up to the opposite side of the room and caught a pair of dark eyes. They were detached, unfamiliar eyes, and Naruto decided that he didn't like them. He vaguely held the notion that he didn't like their owner, either, even before he identified whose they were.

Watching Sasuke Uchiha as he turned away, Naruto couldn't help but wonder to himself if maybe this was the kind of person Jiraiya had warned him about.


	3. Chapter 3: Tension

School was picking up in intensity almost as quickly as the leaves were changing color. Sasuke had started wearing his old jacket while he walked to school in the morning. It was so used that the dark fabric had worn and frayed in places, but remarkably still fit from three years ago. Sasuke had hit puberty early and hadn't grown much since. He wasn't large but he was around 6 feet tall and lean, thanks to how frequently he worked out. There weren't many things that Sasuke enjoyed, but running was one of them.

Leaves crunched under his feet as he walked toward the doors to the school. He felt the blast of warm when he walked in, unzipping his coat in response. Ignoring the small group of freshman girls that apparently didn't realize they were staring, Sasuke took a left and headed down toward the 'U' section of the alphabetically categorized lockers.

His locker was not far away from the main entrance, so he saw the two boys in front of his locker as soon as he turned the corner. The much larger boy had the younger one by the collar, pinning him to the wall.

"Don't fucking touch me again faggot or I'll rip your face off."

"I-I didn't mean to, I just bumped into y-"

The bully pushed the boy, who was clearly a freshman, up against the lockers again with a significant amount of force. At that point, Sasuke had reached his locker and sighed in irritation. He was getting hot under his jacket and needed to get his Calculus book before 1st period.

"What do you want? You here to help this fag?" the older boy spat at Sasuke, only wavering a little at the look on Sasuke's face. The freshman boy had tears in his eyes as the bully continued to hold him against the wall.

"I don't care what you do, just don't do it in front of my locker," Sasuke replied coldly.

The younger boy, who had originally thought Sasuke had come to save him, looked even paler than before.

"Hey!"

Sasuke heard the voice from the opposite direction, accompanied by quick footsteps.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Naruto shouted, immediately shoving the assaulter away from the younger boy.

_Great, him._

"Get outta my way, Naruto," the older boy spat.

Sasuke assumed that Naruto and the bully didn't cross paths often, so the fact that the older boy recognized Naruto meant he was widely known. Naruto really had come a long way since elementary school.

The younger boy looked like he was about to pass out. Even though he had been released, he still hadn't picked up his backpack or moved from his spot.

"Not until you tell me what the hell you think you're doing."

"I said get out of my way!" the bully yelled, forgetting about the freshman and swinging at Naruto.

Sasuke never understood bullies. He didn't see the point in bullying, and felt it was too much of an inconvenience. Granted, Sasuke didn't care for his classmates, but he didn't see the logic in going out of his way to intimidate a person in order to reinforce his status.

Naruto quickly dodged the punch and took the opportunity to twist the boy's arm behind his back and pin him to the wall.

"Listen. If I ever see you doing something like this again, I won't hold back," Naruto said before releasing the bully.

The older boy backed up and rolled his shoulder, grimacing at the pain and glaring daggers at Naruto.

"Faggots," the bully added before turning back down the hall and walking away.

Sasuke had watched all of this with a bored expression, satisfied that his locker was now clear.

Naruto turned to the terrified young boy, smiling. "Hey, kid, are you okay? Don't let someone like that push you around. He's just an asshole."

The young boy wiped his tears and nodded, wide eyed before picking up his bag and quickly walking down the hall.

It was then that Naruto finally noticed Sasuke at his locker.

"Wait, were you here the whole time?" Naruto asked Sasuke in disbelief. "Did you just fucking stand there when this was happening?"

Sasuke didn't see the point in talking to Naruto, so he ignored him and exchanged his coat for his Calc book before closing the locker.

"You're a real asshole, you know that?" Naruto said to Sasuke's back after not receiving a response.

Sasuke zipped up his bag and threw it over his shoulder as he began walking down the hall toward first period, at least until Naruto stepped out in front of him.

"Hey, whats your problem?" Naruto asked, glaring.

Sasuke glanced at the angry blue eyes in front of him. Pissed off and drained from the inconvenience, he tried to step around Naruto, who mirrored his move.

"Get out of my way, idiot." Sasuke returned his glare.

"Sasuke!" he heard an obnoxiously high pitched voice call from behind.

Sakura caught up to the boys before Sasuke had time to walk away.

"Oh. Naruto. Hi." Sakura said as she ran up to the pair, a little out of breath and obviously disappointed she wasn't alone with Sasuke.

Naruto's features seemed to melt and his face flushed the tiniest bit.

"Hey, Sakura," he smiled.

Sasuke took this opportunity to sidestep the flustered Naruto and started walking toward first period, leaving Sakura and Naruto in the hall.

* * *

Unfortunately, Naruto was in most of Sasuke's classes. He didn't know how that could happen or what ungodly force had been at work at the time their schedules were arranged, but it was especially irritating that day. Every class he walked into, he was met with Naruto's glare. Sasuke couldn't for the life of him understand why Naruto was so pissed, or why Naruto saved the stupid kid from the bully in the first place. Naruto wasn't involved, and he wasn't related to the kid, in fact, Sasuke could safely assume that Naruto had never seen the freshman before in his life. Not to mention, random bullying happened all the time, he didn't see the sense in getting so worked up over it.

He assumed that Naruto had told his friends about that morning, due to the fact that had received glares the entire day, not only by Naruto, but by Chouji and Kiba as well. He didn't necessarily care that they didn't like him, it was just irritating that they paid so much attention to him. Sasuke was sure that not one extracurricular word had been spoken between them in their 12 years of schooling.

He walked into 8th period Chemistry and headed toward his seat in the back of the room, ignoring Naruto's sharp look as he passed his desk. It was a lab day, so they had a double period, which meant 90 minutes of Naruto's glares, Sasuke's lab partner's attempted conversation, and Dr. Orochimaru Sannin's unsettling demeanor.

Sasuke hated lab days. The work was easy, but students were partnered up; he assumed to save money on materials. Sasuke didn't work well with other people, so normally he would do his own work and let his partner catch up if they could. It wasn't his fault if they didn't understand, and he wasn't going to inconvenience himself by going slower or explaining concepts.

"Today we will be testing the effects of hydrochloric acid on aluminum. I'll partner you up and you can begin, you will have 40 minutes to complete the packet and turn it in to me or Professor Yakushi. We will be around to answer any questions you have," Dr. Sannin instructed.

As the professor started calling out names Sasuke sighed, hoping he wouldn't get paired with an idiot.

As the class was being paired off, Orochimaru's voice was nearly drowned out by the students getting their materials and scraping stools on the floor in order to sit together or huddle in groups.

"Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara."

Sasuke saw Naruto go for a high five with Shikamaru, who rolled his eyes at him and reluctantly high fived back.

"Sasuke Uchiha and Gaara Sabaku."

_Good. Gaara's not an idiot, and seems to actually understand what he's doing._

"Materials are at the front. Get to work," Dr. Sannin called to the already active class.

Sasuke looked over at Gaara who was walking toward his lab table.

"Hello, Sasuke," he greeted, sitting in the stool next to him.

Sasuke nodded in acknowledgement. He and Gaara seemed to have an unspoken understanding. Gaara wouldn't ask Sasuke questions or attempt small talk because he knew he wouldn't get anywhere with Sasuke. Gaara was selective in who he spoke to in the first place, unlike his siblings.

"I'll get the materials," Sasuke responded, walking toward the front of the room.

By the time he reached the supplies, most of the class had already been through them, leaving bent rulers and cracked beakers to Sasuke. Taking everything he and Gaara needed, he scanned the items and identified the least crooked ruler. However, as he grabbed the end, another hand reached it at the same time. He looked up to meet the angry blue eyes yet again. Scowling in response, he tugged the ruler out of Naruto's hand and headed back to his seat.

Gaara and Sasuke worked in almost complete silence, only speaking when necessary. It was much nicer than having a partner who constantly asked questions or tried to make small talk. Sasuke felt Naruto's occasional glare but refused to acknowledge it.

At one point, Gaara left the room to go to the lav. It was then that Dr. Sannin decided to check in on their progress.

"How is your experiment going, Sasuke?" the professor asked from over Sasuke's shoulder, pushing his long black hair behind his ear.

Sasuke didn't like Dr. Sannin. There was something creepy about him, not to mention his almost obsessive attitude toward chemistry. He was nothing like his sister Tsunade, who had become the principal of Senju high not too long ago. Their brother Jiraiya was a separate case entirely.

"We're almost finished," Sasuke responded curtly, continuing to write down data, purposely avoiding eye contact and shifting his body away from the professor in what he hoped was an unnoticeable degree.

Sasuke suddenly felt Dr. Sannin's hand on his shoulder. He froze, fighting the urge to knock the hand away.

"Good. You're a smart boy, I knew you wouldn't have any trouble with this lab."

The hand traced it's fingers across Sasuke's back as Dr. Sannin walked away to check on the other groups.

_What the hell?_

Sasuke didn't like being touched. Ever. But this was something else entirely. Teachers didn't trace their fingers across students' shoulders. Sasuke could still feel where the professor's palm had rested heavily, like dead weight, on his shoulder while he watched as Dr. Sannin talked to the other students. He felt his stomach turn and had to stop himself from gagging.

"Did something happen?" Gaara asked as he sat down, apparently noticing the discomfort on Sasuke's face.

"No," Sasuke replied quickly. "I've finished the lab. Here," Sasuke pushed his paper toward Gaara, allowing him to copy the data.

Gaara completed his packet and took their work and materials to the front of the room. Sasuke watched Orochimaru as he stacked papers at his desk. To his disgust, the professor caught Sasuke looking and responded with a small, disturbingly suggestive smile.

When the bell rang shortly after, Sasuke was the first one out the door.


End file.
